Clapham attack suspect Ezedi last seen boarding London Underground

1. A nationwide manhunt continues for Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, who is wanted for attacking a mother and her daughters with a corrosive substance in Clapham
2. In a news conference, police say he was last seen boarding a Victoria line tube train south from Kings Cross station at 21:00 on Wednesday
3. Detectives have released new images of the suspect inside the station, with a "significant injury" to his face
4. CCTV also captured Ezedi inside a Tesco store on Caledonian Road just 12 minutes earlier
5. The mother, 31, who was attacked remains "very poorly and is sedated" in hospital, says Met Commander Jon Savell
6. Her daughters, aged eight and three, are still in hospital but their injuries are not as serious as first thought, Savell says
7. Five police officers and four members of the public who helped the victims were also injured in the attack

Suspect last seen in north London

We learnt from police a little earlier that the suspect in this case, who's been named as Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, was last seen on Caledonian Road in north London.

Here's a map showing where that is in relation to where a mother and her two daughters were attacked last night in Clapham, south London - 8 miles (13km) away.

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London Mayor calls for action on dangerous chemicals

PA Media

While we were listening to that police update earlier, London Mayor Sadiq Khan was asked about last night's attack.

He told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme that while it was "shocking" and the impact "awful", he was also incredibly proud of the "heroic" behaviour of police as well as locals who had rushed to help the victims, fully aware of the danger involved.

Khan said attacks using corrosive substances had been reduced from hundreds to a handful as a result of new legislation, but "unfortunately" he added, household items - like detergents and paint strippers - contain the substances that pose such a danger to the public.

Just like the action taken against knives, acid and other offensive weapons, the same approach was needed with regard to these substances, Khan said, adding:

We have to make it as difficult as possible for average people to get hold of dangerous substances."

Women and girls say they don't feel safe here any more

Frankie McCamley

Reporting from Clapham, south London

In that police update we were just given, Supt Gabriel Cameron told reporters that the Metropolitan Police take "violence against women and girls very seriously".

The attack last night, on a mother and her two daughters, happened just streets away from where Sarah Everard was taken almost three years ago.

Women who live in the area have said it's "scary" that females are being targeted in a place that usually "feels so safe".

Many don't want to identify themselves in fear of a reprisal attack or hate online.

A local female MP has admitted there is a problem in this part of London when it comes to violence against women and girls, as there is across the country.

But once again, journalists, photographers and camera crews are back in Clapham as a manhunt is under way, and three female family members remain in hospital.

Watch: Police give update on 35-year-old suspect

Watch: Supt Gabriel Cameron says the Met police are looking for Abdul Shokoor Ezedi

Supt Gabriel Cameron says the Met Police are looking for Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, who may have travelled back to Newcastle.

Six things to know from that police update

We've just heard the Met's Supt Gabriel Cameron give an update on the search for a man accused of throwing an alkaline substance over a woman and her children last night. Here's what we learnt:

• Supt Cameron confirmed that a 31-year old woman and her two daughters had been injured - and that the woman and her youngest daughter could have "life changing" injuries
• He named the suspect as Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, a 35-year-old man from the "Newcastle area" - where he may be heading back to
• Ezedi was last seen on Caledonian Road in north London
• Supt Cameron said Ezedi has "significant" injuries to the right side of his face - he implored people to be vigilant and not to approach Ezedi if they see him and to call police instead
• The police have "no idea" what Ezedi's motivation was but say they are "wholeheartedly confident" he will be caught
• He thanked the members of the public - three women and one man - who helped the victims last night

BreakingPolice release first image of suspect

Metropolitan Police

Here's an image of Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, which has been published just now by London's Metropolitan Police.

He's the man they say they're looking for in connection with the alkali attack in Clapham, south London, last night.

Met 'have no idea' of suspect's motivation

On the substance that was used in the attack, Supt Gabriel Cameron says he's not sure exactly what it was - only that he knows it was "an alkaline".

"We can buy all sorts in the high street", he tells reporters.

He says police don't yet know where the suspect, Abdul Ezedi, lives - "but I am wholeheartedly confident we will catch him".

"He may have been known to police," the officer adds. "I have no idea of the suspect's motivation."

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Police thank members of public for trying to help

The Met's Supt Gabriel Cameron thanks members of the public - three women and one man - for trying to help the mother and her daughters who were targeted by Abdul Ezedi.

He says that, luckily, none of them sustained major injuries.

Images of suspect to be shared 'later today'

BBC

Supt Cameron says there will be images circulated "later today" of the suspect, Abdul Ezedi, but again asks people not to approach him if they think they spot him.

The police officer also gives some numbers for members of the public to call if they have any information.

Suspect Abdul Ezedi has 'significant' injury on face - police

Supt Gabriel Cameron, from the Met, says the suspect Abdul Ezedi is 35 years old.

He was last seen in the area of Caledonian Road in north London.

"If you see him, do not approach him," Supt Cameron tells the public.

He adds that Ezedi has sustained a "significant injury to the right side if his face" so should be recognisable.

BreakingPolice name suspect

Police have named the suspect involved in the attack as Abdul Shokoor Ezedi and say they believe he is from the "Newcastle area".

Stay tuned for more.

Met Police provide update

Supt Gabriel Cameron is now addressing reporters.

You can watch live by pressing Play at the top of this page.

Praise for 'hero' bystanders who came to help

BBC

Labour MP for Streatham, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, has praised "the brave people who came to help" the victims and says it "shows the strength of community."

She says neighbours tried to help by pouring water on the victims, and some came into contact with the substance themselves.

She praised the courage of the man who tried to chase the attacker down the road, and said the local hotel staff also helped out by taking people in.

"I want to reassure people though that the area is safe," Ribeiro-Addy says.

'I heard someone shouting for help'

Anna O'Neill

Reporting from Clapham, south London

A woman called Shannon tells me she witnessed the incident and intervened to help the younger child involved. (Police have said a woman, 31, and her two children, aged eight and three, were targeted in last night's alkali attack.)

She says: “I was in my room, I heard a lot of shouting, I heard a bang and I heard someone shouting ‘help’. So we ran outside [and as] I’ve run outside I’ve seen this guy throwing a child on the floor - he picked her up and threw her again.

“At that point I ran in and I grabbed her and took her into my [housing] block.”

Shannon said she saw the mother of the girl shouting: “I can’t see, I can’t see.”

“So I've shouted to my partner - he ran down the road to chase the man - then he’s come back and I’ve said ‘she needs water, she needs water’."

Staff from a nearby hotel then came out and took the woman inside to help treat her.

Shannon says that after she helped the victims, the skin on her lips was “tingling” then began burning. She was taken by ambulance for hospital treatment but tells me she is feeling better this morning.

BBC

Water bottles and an eyewash were seen this morning on Lessar Avenue

BBC Verify

Lucy Gilder

What does the law say about corrosive substances?

New measures to clamp down on attacks with corrosive substances came into force in 2022.

They were part of the Offensive Weapons Act of 2019, which introduced two new offences:

• Selling a corrosive product (both over the counter and online) to a person under the age of 18
• Possessing a corrosive substance in a public place without good reason or lawful authority

Possession of a corrosive substance in a public place carries a prison sentence of up to four years.

It was already a crime under the Offences against the Person Act 1861 to use a corrosive substance with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. This offence carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Key things to know this lunchtime

BBC

Journalists and a mass of cameras continue to gather on Lessar Avenue, where this attack took place

While police continue to hunt for the suspect involved in last night's attack, here's what we know so far:

• A 31-year-old woman and her daughters, aged eight and three, were doused with a "corrosive substance" last night on Lessar Avenue in Clapham, south London - police have since said it was an alkaline substance
• All three of them remain in hospital
• The injuries to the woman and the younger girl "could be life-changing", a Met Police officer said in a statement earlier
• Police believe the suspect, a man, and the woman are known to each other and the attack was not random
• Twelve people - including the mother and her children - were injured in the attack, when four members of the public tried to help and five police officers were called to the scene. The latter nine have been treated for their injuries and released from hospital
• The suspect tried to flee the scene in a car but ended up escaping on foot
• A "live" police manhunt is under way to find him, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the BBC earlier

This is a moving situation, with some details still unclear. We'll continue to bring you updates as and when we get them.

NHS England records 100 similar hospitalisations a year

We don’t yet know which attack substance was used in Clapham, but NHS England records an average of about 100 incidents a year where someone is admitted to hospital after being assaulted by a corrosive substance.

There were 82 in the year ending last March and 100 in the 12 months before that. Both are down from a recent peak of 129 in the year ending March 2018.

It is possible this figure is an undercount – it is not mandatory for the relevant box to be ticked. An individual may also have been admitted more than once in the same year.

'This is safe neighbourhood, people are scared'

The BBC has spoken to David, 37, a resident in the area where the attack took place last night. He describes the neighbourhood as being "safe" and says people who live there are now "fearful".

He says he witnessed the aftermath of the attack while coming back from work at 19:30 on Wednesday.

"I was there as lots of police were arriving," he says, adding there were armed officers in people's back gardens.

He also says he saw police putting on "protective gear" to collect evidence from the nearby Clapham South Belvedere Hotel.

Supplied

David took this photo showing medics with gloves and plastic bags helping people at the scene

Concern over acidic and alkaline substance attacks

Mark Easton

Home editor

Concern has been growing over the last few years over a rise in the use of corrosive chemicals as a weapon.

Police chiefs and the Home Office have recently met with survivors of what are generally described as acid attacks, although (as we've seen in this case) incidents also involve alkaline substances such as ammonia, bleach and caustic soda.

Figures obtained by the charity Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI), using Freedom of Information requests, show the police in England and Wales recorded sharp increases in corrosive substance attacks from 2015 to a peak in 2017 of 949 recorded attacks. Reports declined during the Covid epidemic, falling to 421 in 2021 but rising the following year to 710.

Separate data compiled from police records by the Office for National Statistics suggest the number of corrosive substance attacks has continued to fall after the pandemic. The ONS records 472 offences in 2022/23. Overall, there were almost 1,100 attacks between April 2020 and March 2022.

The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 included new restrictions on the sale, possession and delivery of corrosive substances with some campaigners suggesting the law has been a factor in the decline in attacks since the 2017 peak.

According to ASTI, the police area with the largest number of attacks in 2022 was Northumbria, where criminals have used the threat of spraying people with corrosive substances in assaults, robberies and burglaries. London and Merseyside both saw more than 100 attacks.

Getty Images

Nearby hotel confirms guests were hurt in attack

We've just heard from the Clapham South Belvedere Hotel - which sits on the corner of Lessar Avenue, where last night's alkali attack took place.

They say that at 19:25 last night, "police and ambulance services were called to attend a serious incident in which guests at the Belvedere Hotel were a victim".

It's not clear which people caught up in last night's attack were guests of the hotel.

A statement continues:

Belvedere Hotel staff, having supported the work of the emergency services, provided assistance to the guests affected and sought to reassure other hotel guests as to their safety and wellbeing.

The staff team will continue to provide assistance to guests and the police going forward. As this is an ongoing police investigation, we are not able to provide any further comment.

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those affected."